If Only Angels Could Prevail
by After Words
Summary: This is basically a remake of the movie beginning with one, crucial difference: What if Mrs. Lovett had told Sweeney the truth from the get go? Sounds lame, I know. But it's just the beginning! It gets better.
1. Chapter 1

_**If Only Angels Could Prevail**_

By: After Words

"NOOOO!!!" The dark stranger roared, surging to his feet. His sudden shout startled Nellie Lovett into silence. She stared up at him, the vague recognition she'd felt for him becoming clear.

"So it _is _you," she breathed, awed by his very presence now that she knew his identity. "Benjamin Barker."

The man's brows contracted. He seemed confused now, lost, and Nellie briefly wondered if she'd perhaps been mistaken. But his next words confirmed her suspicions. "Where is Lucy?" he mewled. "Where is my wife?"

Nellie looked away, a battle waging within her on whether she should reveal the truth to him. He'd obviously suffered greatly in the time he'd been gone. Did she really want to add to that? More so than she already had? He now knew of his wife's rape... Did he really need to know of her fate?

"...She poisoned herself," she blurted, her eyes lowering. "Arsenic. From the apothecary 'round the corner." She paused, twiddling her fingers, struggling to stem the flow of words. "I tried to stop her but she wouldn't listen to me." Her voice failed as she glanced up at him. He had a look of such wretched sadness upon his face, she had to force herself to continue. "She went mad because of it, wound up in bedlam, poor thing. I remember that day... " Nellie sighed and shook her head. "And _he's _got your daughter..."

"He? Judge Turpin?"

She nodded sadly. "Adopted her as his own."

Something flickered behind his dark eyes. "Johanna?" He whispered the name like a prayer.

Nellie tried to comfort him. "Lucy... watches over her. In a way," she amended. The man looked at her in confusion. "I-I pretended to be her sister, to get her outta Fogg's Asylum." She cleared her throat nervously under his dark gaze, compulsively smoothed her skirts and continued. "But she wouldn't stay put and it was hard to keep track of her and run the shop, and..." (inwardly, she balked at her callous, clumsy words) "and she kept wandering off... I tried to follow her, to find out where she was going..."

"Where is Lucy?" he demanded again. His dark eyes glittered strangely, his face hardening.

"She wanders back and forth between here and Judge Turpin's house," Nellie told him, watching him closely. "Half-mad, she is, though. She knows Johanna, and she seems to know that she had a connection to this place at one time... but that's about all. She... don't remember you." The man looked up at her sharply and Nellie swallowed her nervousness, licked her lips and continued. "At least, not that you were taken away... or what Turpin and Beadle Bamford did to her—"

"Beadle Bamford?!" the man exploded. "That rat! He was in on the whole thing!"

Nellie nodded solemnly. "He's the one that took her off to bedlam, too. But she don't know it. She don't remember poisoning herself... and she don't remember me."

"What do you mean? She doesn't remember you?"

Nellie shrugged. "She thinks I've hidden you off somewhere, that I made you disappear. She calls me 'witch.'"

The man grimaced. "Fifteen years spent sweating in a living hell on a false charge!" he spat, removing his coat and throwing it down. "Fifteen years _dreaming_ I might come home to a wife and child!" He turned away.

"Well, I can't say the years have been particularly kind to you, Mr. Barker," Nellie said to his back, sympathetic.

"No!" the man snapped, spinning on his heel, glaring at her. "Not 'Barker.' That man is dead. It's Todd now. Sweeney Todd." His face lit up in maniacal glee, a twisted smile touching his lips. "...and he will have his revenge_._"

Nellie Lovett believed him.

* * *

**A/N:** It's really short, I know. Sorry! But there's more to come, if anybody's interested!

And yes, the title is taken from 'Johanna Reprise.' I love that song!


	2. Chapter 2

_**If Only Angels Could Prevail**_

By: After Words

He followed her, stiff-backed, through the shop and up the stairs. She glanced back at him once or twice, reaffirming that she hadn't imagined him, that Benjamin Barker was back. _He's finally home, _Nellie reassured herself.

The heavy brass keys clinked together as she unlocked the barbershop door and pushed it open. The hinges squealed from years of disuse, a stark contrast to the merry tinkling of a little bell above. Nellie stepped inside, feeling the oppressive dreariness of the place seeping into her.

Benja—no... _Sweeney _paused on the threshold, his eyes panning the room; it had once been bright and cheery, full of flowers and the scent of shaving lather... Now, all was grey and dull and utterly beyond his memories.

"Come in." Mrs. Lovett's soft voice called him back. He looked up at her, his dark eyes shining. "Nothing to be afraid of, dearie."

He looked away, his gaze falling on the elaborate framework of a rusting bassinet, Johanna's bed. Sweeney's footsteps were light, soundless as he made his way over to it. Slowly, he lifted a dingy drop-cloth away, revealing the cracked and peeling face of a porcelain doll. Sweeney remembered that doll. He had bought it for Johanna on her first birthday. She had liked to chew on it's lace bonnet...

Nellie left him to his moment of remembrance and scanned the floorboards, counting. She stood at the vanity, visually measuring the distance. _Ah. There, below the window. _She knelt down and swept her hand back and forth across a floorboard. _Yes, _she said to herself as the dust cleared. _This is the one. I remember that knot._

She smacked it to loosen it further and pried it up. The resulting creaks and crunches drew Mr. Todd's attention and he hurried over to her as she removed a long-hidden object, wrapped protectively in a swath of crimson velvet. She set it down between them as he knelt across from her, patting the dust from it's fold before unwrapping it for him.

"When they come for the girl," she said, handing him a rectangular leather box. "I hid them. Could've sold 'em... but I didn't." She looked up at him, her eyes earnest. She wanted to convey to him all that that meant. She had saved them for him. For _fifteen_ years.

But he wasn't looking at her. He was opening the box, revealing seven shining straight razors. "Those handles is chase silver, ain't they?" she asked, her voice breathless. _I __**know **__they're silver! _she shouted at him in her head. _And silver is valuable. But I saved them for you! All for you!_

"Silver..." He was far away, barely aware of her anymore. "Yes... These are my friends. See how they glisten? See this one shine, how he smiles in the light?" He held one up in the meager light filtering through the window and smiled. "My friend, my faithful friend!

"Speak to me, friend," he said, standing and turning away from her as though she weren't there anymore. "Whisper - I'll listen. I know, I know; you've been locked out of sight all these years! Like me, my friend! Well I've come home to find you waiting!" he gloated, gesturing grandly to the room at large. "Home - and we're together... And we'll do wonders, won't we?"

Nellie stood and slowly approached him, watching as he spoke to his razors.

"You there, my friend," he said, addressing a second razor that she hadn't seen him pick up.

"I'm your friend too, Mr. Todd," she told him, close to his shoulder now.

"Come let me hold you," he continued, not hearing her.

_If you only knew, Mr. Todd, _she thought to herself, wishing that he were speaking to her and only her. She reached out and touched his shoulder, drawing herself closer. _Ooh, Mr. Todd, you're warm in my hand._

"You've come home," she said, the feel of him under her hand making her realize his return all over again. _Always had a fondness for you, I did_, she confessed in her head. He stepped away from her, unmindful of her touch, and returned to the leather casing on the floor. "Never you fear, Mr. Todd," she told him, pretending that he heard her, that he was listening. "You can move in here, Mr. Todd."

"My _lucky_ friends!" he stated, his breath hot on the razor's surface.

"_I'm_ your friend," she said again, following him. _And now you're mine..._She crouched behind him, marveling at his reflection in the razor, leaning as close as she could without disturbing him. She didn't want him to move away again.

"'Till now your shine was merely silver!"

_Silver's good enough for me, _she thought as he turned his prize this way and that in the light. She caught the scent of his hair, sharp and salty like the sea. _Mr. T... _

"Friends, you shall drip rubies." His lips twisted, eyes alighting with gleeful purpose. "You'll soon drip _precious_ rubies..." Her reflection appeared in the razor he held and he finally became aware of her closeness, her face perched right above his shoulder. He turned to her, slowly, suddenly feeling her breath upon his neck. She looked at him expectantly. "Leave me," he growled, ignoring the way her face fell at his words.

She straightened and he counted her steps toward the door. The bell jingled, the latch caught, and Sweeney stood, the razor clutched comfortably, familiarly, in his hand. He brandished it before him.

"At last!" He informed the empty room. "My arm is complete again!"

* * *

**A/N: **Okie-doke. I know it's a slow start (I'm totally ripping off the movie still) but the next chapter is where it starts to veer off into _my _little world! So bear with me, please. :)

Anyhoo, many thanks to those who Reviewed; Scarecrow (you got my puns! Sweet!) & SweeneyToddRocksMySocks. Your encouragment and enthusiasm (STRMS) is very much appreciated!


	3. Chapter 3

_**If Only Angels Could Prevail**_

By: After Words

"Show me."

Nellie nearly jumped out of her skin, startled by his sudden appearance, but managed to swallow her scream. "Show you?" she stammered, one pale hand pressed to her heaving bosom as she turned to face him.

Sweeney's face darkened even further as he glowered at her from the parlor door. "Show me where she is!" he snarled.

"Oh." _Of course,_ she sulked. _Lucy. _She rose from her chair and gestured to the coat he'd discarded earlier. "Well, come on, then."

* * *

The street was full of strolling couples, nearly all of them headed to or from the park near the judge's house. No one took much notice of them, though it was clear they didn't belong on _this_ side of town, where the gutters were as clean as the walks. Nellie took Sweeney's arm, a friendly smile plastered to her face, returning the nods of those who deigned to make eye contact.

"I followed her here once," she said through her teeth. "She circled the park a coupla times, but mostly she stayed on the judge's block, pacing to and fro." He felt stiff under her fingers but she ignored his discomfort and led him along. "We're almost there."

They rounded the corner and Sweeney stopped short, flinging an arm out to halt Mrs. Lovett as well. He backed up, pushing her with him, and peered around the corner.

Nellie looked over his shoulder, her heart in her throat. Was it the judge? Would Mr. T attack him here, on the street? Oh. She saw the hold-up now. Lucy was panhandling some young man that had lost his way. She saw him drop a few coins into her palm and then gesture toward the judge's house. Lucy was fidgeting beside him, the hair in front of her face lank and unwashed, her clothes just as dirty, just as ragged.

"Oh, Mr. T..." she began, voice soft with sympathy.

"I know that boy," he growled. "We mustn't let him see us; he'd ask too many questions."

Nellie gasped. He hadn't recognized her! On the inside, a malicious joy was spreading through her: He hadn't recognized his precious Lucy! But _she_, Nellie, had recognized _him_ almost immediately! She pressed a hand to her mouth to cover her smile. She managed to fight it down, chastising herself on her cruelty. Lucy was mad and poor Sweeney would be heartbroken!

_Yes, _a nasty little inner voice gloated. _Poor Sweeney will need someone to pick up the pieces for him once he realizes his perfect wife of yesteryear has gone round the twist! _Nellie clamped a mental hand over that voice.

Sweeney was watching Anthony intently. The beggar-woman had wandered off calling for alms in the opposite direction, while the boy went to collect his rucksack from under a bench. His eyes fixed on an upstairs window of the house across him, Anthony crossed the street and paused as the doors opened before him.

"Look!" Sweeney hissed as a man emerged from the house and beckoned toward Anthony. "It's the judge!" He started forward, his teeth bared in a snarl, razor already in hand, but Mrs. Lovett caught his arm.

"You can't ambush him in front of all these people, you fool!" He whirled on her, eyes blazing, but she refused to release him. "Do you want to go straight back to prison?"

He wrenched his arm from her grasp and turned away. "They've gone inside!"

"Well, a fat lot o' good it'd have done ya to murder him on the street!" she snapped.

Sweeney snorted, his red-rimmed eyes trained on the judge's front door. No more than five minutes passed before he spotted the young sailor limping out from the servant's entrance, his lip and cheek smeared with blood. "He's been beaten," Sweeney stated, his jaw tightening in anger. "No doubt by the Beadle."

"Poor thing," Nellie simpered, watching as the boy turned and stared up at the same window, all the while backing away. He made it to the corner and Sweeney turned away, lest the boy spot the unique white streak through his hair. "Alright. He's gone," she said a few moments later. "Come on, then. Lucy's gone 'round on the other side. We can cut through the park so's we don't hafta pass Turpin's place."

Sweeney turned to her, eyes bright. "You saw her?" he asked excitedly. "Where? Show me!"

Nellie swallowed nervously, all too aware of the nasty little voice fighting it's way to the forefront of her mind; it wanted her to lie, it wanted her to deceive Sweeney... But she couldn't. Instead, she assuaged the voice by telling him: "But you saw her, too, Mr. T. You watched her accost that boy."

The brightness in his eyes dimmed as he absorbed her words. No. It couldn't be. That _filthy_ _beggar-woman_ couldn't possibly be his beautiful, virtuous wife! Sweeney's face hardened. "You're lying." His voice was as cool and hard as his eyes.

Nellie's head snapped up, her own eyes turning flinty. "I've never lied to you, Mr. Todd," she hissed, arms crossing indignantly over her chest. "See for yourself." She jerked her head toward a park entrance, then lifted her chin in defiance. "Go on, I dare ya."

Sweeney's eyes narrowed to slits, his nostrils flaring. Without a word, he stomped off toward the entrance she'd indicated. She followed closely behind. As they neared the other side, cries of, "Alms! Alms for a miserable woman! On a miserable, chilly morning!"

They exited the park on a parallel street, the beggar-woman just a few yards away calling, "Alms! Alms for a desperate woman!" and holding her hand out to anyone that passed, even those who crossed to avoid her.

"Poor thing," Mrs. Lovett sighed as they watched her. "Shoulda been in 'ospital."

Sweeney said nothing as they waited for her to approach. He tried to catch a glimpse of her face but the woman kept her head down and swayed from side to side.

Nellie sighed again. "Hello, Lucy," she said. "Remember me?"

The beggar-woman's head shot up at Mrs. Lovett's greeting, her eyes wide. Sweeney focused on the sores surrounding her mouth as she hissed, "You! You're evil, the Devil's Wife!" She stumbled toward Sweeney and latched onto his lapels. "Beware of her, sir! She, with no pity in her heart! Hey..." she trailed off as she gazed up at him. "Don't I know you, Mister?"

Whatever was left of Benjamin Barker's heart broke and plummeted at that moment. There was no mistaking her, not from this distance.

The filthy beggar-woman was his _beautiful, virtuous wife_.

"Lucy..."

* * *

**A/N: **Woot! It's my twist! AND it's the second chapter I've posted just this day! Whoohoo! I am on a roll! But it stops here.

Anyhoo, please leave a comment on this chapter. And many, _many _thanks to those who Reviewed Chap 2: Emma & STRMS! (Sorry, I'm lazy.)

Cheers.


	4. Chapter 4

_**If Only Angels Could Prevail**_

By: After Words

"Lucy..." his voice trailed off into a strangled gasp.

The woman peered up at him through her fringe of dingy yellow hair, her grip tightening further on his jacket lapels. "I _do _know you, Mister! I _do_!"

Sweeney forced himself not to cringe away from her putrid breath. He wanted to look away, away from her ravaged face, the oozing pustules at the corners of her lips revolting him. But he couldn't. It was _Lucy... _his _wife._

"Benjamin..." he murmured, at a loss as to what more to say.

"Benjamin?" Lucy huffed. "Benjy's gone! _She _took him!" She released him and pointed one claw-like hand toward Mrs. Lovett. "She made him disappear, she did! Witch! Witch!"

Sweeney looked to the baker. She was watching Lucy dispassionately, blank faced. She glanced toward him and he could tell from her eyes that Lucy's accusations were nothing she hadn't heard before.

Lucy snatched at his lapels again. "You know where she took my Benjy? Do you?" Again she released him, her wasted hands, once so beautiful, fluttering around her face in distress. "Oh! He'd be so happy for Johanna!"

Sweeney stiffened. "Why?"

"Pretty little thing, she is. Voice like a nightingale!"

"You see?" Mrs. Lovett said from behind him. "She don't remember anything."

"_Lucy_," Sweeney said, coming to a decision and taking her by the shoulders. "Lucy, do you remember Benjamin? Remember Benjy?"

Lucy's eyes widened briefly, her hands coming down to pat his chest. "Oh, yes! Benjy was a barber, he was! The best in London!" She began to blink rapidly, pulling away from him, out of his grasp. "He disappeared, there and gone, it was so quick... Benjy..." Her eyes snapped onto Mrs. Lovett over his shoulder, focused and spitting fire. "_She _did it!" she howled, wrenching herself from Sweeney's grasp and hurling herself toward Nellie.

Sweeney caught her around the waist and ducked quickly back into the park to avoid some approaching passerby, his hand covering her mouth. He jumped behind a tall, flowering bush planted close to the wall. Mrs. Lovett followed to block them from view.

"Lucy. Lucy, shush," he told her, voice low and gentle. "I... I have something to tell you about Benjy."

She pried his hand from her mouth. "Benjy's gone, disappeared," she told him, edging away. He kept her in place with a hand to either side of her head, trapping her between the wall and his body.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nellie glance back at them, _him._ He sighed. "I know, Lucy. I know he's gone," he said, and the baker resumed her perusal of the park visitors.

Lucy was staring up at him, eyes sharp but... blank at the same time. "I know you, Mister?"

Again, Nellie turned for his answer. Sweeney shook his head slowly. "No, you don't know me. But I come from the same place as Benjy, see? I was sent here by Benjy... to find _you._"

"Benjy's gone."

"I know—"

"_She _made him disappear!"

He didn't bother to look where she pointed. "No, Lucy, _she didn't_," he told her, staring her straight in the eye. "_Turpin did._" She began to shake her head, eyes squeezing shut, hands coming up to press against her ears.

"Like a child," Nellie said. Sweeney finally looked at her. She'd turned toward them fully, hands on hips. She jerked her chin toward the other woman, her eyes on his. "Ain't she?"

Her tone was rhetorical.

Sweeney turned back to his wife, to _Benjy's wife_, the shattered pieces of his heart sinking further as he watched her shake and convulse in front of him, her head grinding against the wall in her hysteria. "Lucy... _Lucy!_" He gripped her wrists and pulled her hands from her ears. Her eyes opened wide and locked on his. "Benjy sent me to warn you, to help you! You and Johanna."

"No. _No_," she insisted. "Nononononononono." She began to strike her own head against the wall. Sweeney released her in shock and backed away.

"There's no reasoning with her, luv," Nellie tutted. She lowered her voice. "Here, now. Tell her to come to Fleet Street later, eh? Tell her _Benjy _sent something for her and that she'll get a meal out of it, a nice juicy meat pie. Go on, now, 'fore she knocks herself... daft."

Sweeney did as he was told, if only because he was at a loss for any other course of action. Lucy stilled at the mention of food.

"A meat pie? For me? Oh, thank you, sir!"

"Mrs. Lovett, give Lucy a penny to show our good faith."

The baker did a double-take, one hand coming up to cover her bosom. "Wha-?"

Sweeney's dark eyes shot sparks. "Give her a penny, I said!"

Nellie knew better than to rile Mr. T. She extracted a small, worn coin purse from her bodice and fished out a penny. There weren't very many left. "Here ya go, luv," she said, handing it to him, her voice falsely cheerful.

He held the penny up to Lucy's face; her eyes were riveted to it. But then, so were Nellie's. "See this, Lucy? This is for you." He pressed it into her palm. "This is for you to come to Fleet Street, to Benjy's old barbershop. You remember where that is?"

Lucy grinned up at him. Her teeth were yellow, stained, some were chipped and her gums were bleeding. Well... he'd seen worse in Australia.

"She remembers," Nellie said. "I told ya she wanders between here and there." She took his arm, tugging him away. "Come on, luv. We've got plans to make. Goodbye, Lucy dear."

Lucy scowled at her. Sweeney was staring back at her, unwilling to leave but still allowing Mrs. Lovett to lead him away. "You _will _remember to come, won't you Lucy?"

"To Fleet Street," she recited. "For a nice juicy meat pie!" She clapped her hands together eagerly.

Yes..." Sweeney muttered, finally turning away. His eyes locked on the roof of the judge's house. He quickened his pace, and suddenly Mrs. Lovett was the one being dragged along. "Yes, that's right..."

* * *

**A/N: **Okay... I really don't like this chapter. It's like the words stopped-up in the middle and everything became forced. Bleh. Well, anyway, tell me what _you_ think. (I am totally stealing that from you, Farren! And don't think you're excused from Reviewing just 'cause you know what's gonna happen! :P)

Anyhoo, the next chapter should be better. So, please Review. And many thanks to STRMS, who has faithfully Reviewed every update so far! Don't let me down, STRMS! :D


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